We made a private 5-week birding
trip to Bolivia including side trips to northern Chile and Buenos Aires
province, Argentina. The side trip to Chile was more or less forced by
the social-political troubles in Bolivia resulting in many roadblocks,
and the extra trip to Argentina was a planned stopover on our way back
home. So this was a trip from ocean to ocean, and from steaming lowlands
to freezing highlands. The report is in three parts: this one about Bolivia
and two short separate reports of the side trips to Chile and Argentina.

We first had a successful week of
birding from the chaco woodlands of Santa Cruz through the semi-arid valley
of Comarapa up to the Siberia cloud forest above it. Then we could not
proceed to Cochabamba because of the roadblocks so we went back to Sta.
Cruz and on to the tropical lowlands in the Beni province: the partly wooded
savannas of Trinidad and the tropical rainforest remains at Riberalta.
By now the situation in the highlands had cleared enough and we flew on
to La Paz.

After a visit to the high Cumbre
pass and the steep forested Yungas valleys below it, we still wanted to
visit the region around Cochabamba (highlands and East Andes slope forests),
but here the last roadblocks still persisted. So instead we took the side
trip to nearby northernmost Chile, which we did not regret at all. There
we had a lot of good birds in the short distance from the coast of the
Atacama desert to the splendid intact puna grasslands below the snow-clad
volcanoes at Lauca national park. The 5-day stopover at Buenos Aires did
we use to go along the coastal marshes and pampas, from the city down to
Punta Rasa at the open ocean. We regarded this region as the southern end
of the same savanna belt as we visited in eastern Bolivia.

Some of the highlights of this exciting
birding trip to three countries were Red-fronted and Blue-throated Macaw,
Greater and Lesser Rhea, Andean and Puna Flamingo, Giant Coot and Giant
Wood-rail, a breeding colony of Andean Avocet, our first condors and our
first albatrosses, Red-tailed Comet and Peruvian Sheartail, the enormous
Toco Toucan, Bolivian and White-throated Earthcreeper, Straight-billed
and Curve-billed Reedhaunter, Yungas Manakin and Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-manakin,
our first monjitas (White-rumped and White), White-eared Solitaire and
Andean Slaty-thrush, Moustached and Grey-bellied Flowerpiercer, and many
more. Of course we missed several species, partly due to the roadblocks
preventing us to visit the Cochabamba region. Apart from the roadblocks
(that we easily avoided) and some time needed to get used to the high altitude
of La Paz, we had no troubles and we enjoyed the diversity of cultures.

Thu. 19: morning seabirds and Azapa
valley, then flight back to La Paz and visit to Titicaca lake

Fri. 20: early flight to Santa Cruz,
birding in surroundings airport, flight on to Buenos Aires

Part 2. Logistics and
sites

Note 1: the two-letter
abbreviations behind the main site names refer to the column headings for
(sub-)sites in the species list.Note 2: some sites
have been measured with a handheld GPS (Global Positioning System). The
locations ('waypoints') are indicated as WP01 etc. in the text below and
explained with coordinates in a separate text (see index page).

Santa Cruz (LA, JB)

This second-largest town of Bolivia
is recommended as a low starting point in order to get used to the higher
altitude later on. Sta. Cruz is in the eastern lowlands and from here the
classical birding trip goes up to Cochabamba along the old (but good) road
and then either on to La Paz, or back to Sta. Cruz along the new road.
(But, as explained in part 1, we did not do the latter leg).

We rented a Suzuki four wheel-drive
car (the usual option in Bolivia) at A.Barron's rent-a-car for 400 USD
a week. We had e-mailed with them ( antonioba@cotas.com.bo ) and we were
picked up at the airport. The car was good although the tyres could have
been better. On one of the last days we had a flat tyre and it was beyond
repair then so we had to use the spare tyre instead and buy another spare
tyre (second-hand). Note that there is also another company with nearly
the same name: Barron's rent-a-car (his brother), as well as a branch of
Localiza. But we were happy with this car and the service, esp. the possibility
of e-mailing beforehand (all in Spanish however).

We had a good hotel in town, the
Asturias, phone (591) 3 33 9611, fax 35 0897. Hotel prices in Santa Cruz
(as well as Trinidad, the other lowland town) are higher than in the other
parts of Bolivia, even higher than in La Paz. This hotel was 400 Bs for
a spacious room (don't take the smaller ones for a bit less) and a swimming
pool in a large inner courtyard with some trees. Taxis were everywhere
and not expensive.

There are three main birding sites
near Santa Cruz:

1. Lomas de Arena. This is a regional
nature park with large sand dunes (hence the name) but also some nice open
chaco woods and even a small stream and some ponds. Here we got several
of our first lowland species like Red-winged Tinamou and Guira Cuckoo but
also a few duck species that we did not have later on in Bolivia. It is
a lovely and quiet area (except in the weekends I think). To reach this
area take the long road indicated on the map, and 50 m before the end (a
gate) go left on a dirt road an then after another 50 or 100 m go right
again. Then follow this as straight as possible until you see the barrier
of the park where you have to pay something and can drive on through the
various habitats. These roads are definitely 4WD (to our western standards;
taxi's here drive anywhere…). This is LA in the species list.

2. Jardin Botanico, the botanical
garden, is more a forest than a garden. And a good forest! I think we had
the best chaco woods of the trip right here. See the map how to get here,
it is on the right, just after a fly-over across a railway. There is long
and stately fence and a large gate which was open and seemed to be open
mostly (if it is closed go to the house on the left corner and ask there
to be let in). The first part has open lawns with a pond also, and then
you follow the broad tracks along the left-hand border fence through the
woods, all the way for maybe 2 km until you reach the backside where you
see open fields beyond the fence. Here we turned right along that backside
and then back again along the other side and fence of this elongated reserve.
Hot here! Bring sufficient drinking water. We had nice chaco species, several
of which we did not see later on. We had good views of several Arrowhead
Piculets, Straight-billed Woodcreeper, Brown-crested Flycatcher, White-backed
Fire-eye, and others. See column JB in the species list (part 4 of this
report).

3. The airport fields and near surroundings
was good for some savanna species such as Red-legged Seriema. The airport
is about 20 km north of Sta. Cruz. There are some dirt roads to the left
before the terminal building, and we had the seriema on the grazed grasslands
outside the airport, some 5 km to the North along the main road.

Rio Pirai (PI)

At 47 km from the last big roundabout
of the town of Sta. Cruz, or 22 km after a village called San Jose, is
a large bridge across the Pirai River. We drove the track left before the
river for about 1 km and had some nice additional species of the chaco
woodland and transitional habitats, as you get here gradually into the
lower reaches of the large dry Andes valley here, the so-called Valles.
Spot-backed Puffbird is one of these species. Look for PI in the list,
for other species.

Angostura

Along the 'old' road up from Sta.
Cruz to Cochabamba, right after the village of Angostura the road goes
through a nice gorge where Golden-collared Macaw is often seen but we had
no luck. We were probably too late but it was also very crowded as we were
there on a special holiday, with lots of colorful dressed people in the
riverbed. We only stayed half an hour here.

Cuevas valley (CU)

About 20 km before Samaipata and
100 m before the big sign 'Cuevas 100 km' (100 km from Sta. Cruz) is a
side road to the left that leads through a splendid valley to a village
called Bellavista (as another sign says at the main road). The habitat
is open mountainous with at first steep cliffs (should hold Golden-collared
Macaw in Nov./Dec., according to a few locals), and gradually more wooded
moist subtropical further on. This seems to me to be a moist subtropical
refuge inside the drier Valle region. I had not heard about it but we got
this tip from the owner of our lodge in Samaipata (see below). We drove
this dirt road for about 7 km. At the cliffs we got good swifts (Ashy-tailed
and White-tipped) and the rest of the valley is just a good chance of getting
into subtropical woods. See CU in the species list.

Samaipata (SA)

In this small town we had a wonderful
birder-friendly lodge (cabañas), La Vispera, at the left backside
of town, bordering the hills. A Dutch couple owns it for many years now
and they have a large shaded garden for growing several plants, a/o kitchen
and medicinal herbs for which people come from the wide surroundings, esp.
Sta. Cruz. Other farmers around have gradually adopted their biological
practice, and their approach is very matter-of-factly. Their e-mail address
is vispera@bibosi.scz.entelnet.bo and phone nr is (591) 9446082. Pieter
is a keen conservationist too and gives good advice on where to go birding
(like the Cuevas valley described above). He knows Amboro National Park
also, from long trekkings, and can act as a guide there, or provide you
local guides for this and other destinations. See their info at http://www.travelxs.com/agents/boliviajes/

Their garden and the bushes below
it and above it have many of the Valle specialties like Narrow-billed Woodcreeper
and Spot-backed Puffbird, and also several Golden-billed Saltator. Another
good spot was when driving (walking is possible too) from town up to the
chapel on the hilltop or rather in a pass, visible from below, with the
best birding just before leaving the town. There, a small artificial watercourse
attracted warbling-finches etc. Up on the hill we did not see many birds.
So I think that just walking around the backside border of this cozy town
or rather village will produce most species (backside as seen from the
main road). But if you stay a bit longer you could explore more habitats
in the surroundings, and even into Amboro NP of course.

Sjoerd Mayer stayed a full week at
the lodge and several recordings on his Bolivia CD-ROM are from this place.
Many of the species here can also be seen at Comarapa/Tambo. The famous
'pipeline-track' did we explore shortly in the afternoon, but we were not
very lucky there. It starts at a short (100 m) dead-end side road to the
right, which can be found just before you enter the village from the direction
of Sta. Cruz.

Tambo/Comarapa (CO, SI)

At the upper end of the large semi-arid
valley along the old road from Sta. Cruz to Cochabamba is the simple village
of Comarapa and some 15 km before that (or just 1 km after the hamlet of
San Isidro, and behind a sports field to the right) is the Tambo Mission
School. This is for children of development-aid workers and missionaries
in Bolivia and even South Peru. You can stay there in one of their guestrooms
(with shared bathrooms) for 10 dollar per person. We arranged this beforehand
by e-mail with one of the teachers, Lenna Gill: lennagill@tambo.scz.net.
Also possible is just schooloffice@tambo.scz.net. It is a peaceful place,
with quiet nights.

You can have meals in the dining
hall but all at sharply fixed hours, so we also ate at Comarapa at some
days, because this fitted better in our birding. In Comarapa, restaurant
Paraiso is the best according to the people of Tambo, and we did not even
try the rest. Hotel/restaurant Paraiso has a friendly owner and the meals
were simple but good (and very cheap). They recently built new rooms with
private bath (the older rooms have shared bathrooms). These are in the
premises behind the restaurant, where we chatted a while with a Turquoise-fronted
Parrot. On our last visit to the restaurant we asked for a quick look at
the rooms and these are really worthwhile, and probably very cheap as well.

This region is a semi-arid habitat
at about 1500 m so not too hot, and in fact pleasant year-round (a reason
for establishing the school here). But there are two other habitats nearby
as well: lush river valleys, and the Siberia cloud forest on the mountain
ridge above Comarapa.

The river valleys are famous for
the Red-fronted Macaw, a Bolivian endemic and an endangered species. In
fear of the possibility of macaw pet trade I won't publicly describe here
where exactly we found the species (thanks to other birders, esp. Patricia)
but you can personally e-mail me for more information.

The Siberia cloud forest is a wonderful
area. As there was virtually no traffic because of the roadblocks further
on towards Cochabamba, we had the main road through the forest all to ourselves.
Of the three best spots one was right at the beginning, where you see a
small pond to the right. A tiny trail leads up into the forest from a small
plot of lawn-like grass. Inside the forest we had a/o Bar-bellied Woodpecker,
brush-finches, fruiteaters. A second good spot was at the pass-like area
(forested as well) several kms further on, before a lonely barrack on the
left and just before a side road to the right (the only or first clear
side road to the right; it goes to Kuahari). Here we had our first ever
Condors.

But best of all was that side road
down to the right. This eventually would lead to subtropical forest but
that's a long way. We stayed in the cloud forest zone along this side road
and had White-eared Solitaire (seen after 1 hour trying, at WP01), Plumbeous
Tyrant, Rufous-faced Antpitta at 15 meters but not seen (also at WP01).
As always in cloud forests, be here early, as the bird activity slows down
by mid morning. But we mostly remain as long as possible and you'll pick
up new things later on the day as well.

Around Tambo itself there are many
interesting species of the semi-arid area and also some common species
in the arable fields behind the school. We could freely wander around on
the private tracks in these fields. Right opposite the school entrance
we had our first White-tipped Plantcutter and several more were at the
bushes bordering those arable fields at the back. For the semi-arid specialties
we had our best luck along the side road to the right after 5 km when going
from Tambo to Comarapa, and just along the first km of this side road:
Bolivian Earthcreeper, White-fronted Woodpecker (both at WP02), Stripe-crowned
Spinetail, Streak-fronted Thornbird and others.

In the species list the sites are
indicates together as CO (of Comarapa), and separately SI for the Siberia
cloud forest.

Laguna Alalay at Cochabamba (AL)

On our flight from Sta. Cruz to Trinidad
in the Beni lowlands, we had a stop of 4 hours in Cochabamba and took a
taxi to drive around the laguna Alalay, a well-known birding site at the
border of the city. This was for 2 hours, 40 pesos. At the city-side of
the lake many young men aimlessly wandered around and we were glad to have
the taxi nearby when we made short walks from the road to the lake border.
On the opposite side of the lake it was much quieter and seemingly safer.
In general we don't like birding in city parks in these countries, and
the city-side of this lake is just like that, so you probably keep better
to the other side. We had a good introduction to the high altitude wetland
species, although most if not all of them would we see later near La Paz
and at Lauca NP in Chile. In several of the small trees around the lake
White-tipped Plantcutters were singing.

Trinidad (TD)

This lively town in the lowlands
of the Beni province has good birding habitats in the immediate surroundings,
and is the starting point for trips to see the endemic and rare Blue-throated
Macaw. We were advised to do some birding near Trinidad first and then
taking a short trip to the macaw only, to minimize the costs. As we had
to arrange a trip for only the two of us it would inevitably be more expensive
per person than with a group. After arrival in the afternoon we headed
to the tour offices which are all three in the same street (see map). Moxos
tours was far too expensive (and 3 days were the standard there), and at
Paraiso travels (paraiso@sauce.ben.entelnet.bo says the card) Liliam, the
lady who does the tours to the macaw, was not present. Her colleagues did
not know how to help us (faxing beforehand had not given a response either),
and so we ended up at the more modest looking Amazonia Holliday, phone/fax
46 22806 or phone 46 25732. Here the owner, Lito (Carlos Ruiz), understood
us very well and he tailored a trip of just two days for us. This for US$150
pp., including all meals, lodging, a guide and a driver with his car. Read
on to see how this worked out, but we did see the macaws indeed.

Our hotel in Trinidad was the Gran
Moxos first, but we found the service so bad that we changed the next morning
to Mi Residencia I (Uno). The latter was better, with a more professional
staff, but both are definitely overpriced at US$68, so it may be better
to look at alternatives if you can take some time for it. Probably Mi Residencia
II (fax 46 22464) is better value for money but this is further from the
plaza. Please mind that for Mi Residencia the prices in the hotel listing
on http://www.boliviaweb.com/hotels/trinidad were far below the real prices
(less than half), but the manager of Mi R Uno did not seem to bother much
when I pointed this out to him. Never mind, there are more hotels here
and reportedly a new one at the road to the airport, near the TAM-office.

The plaza and side streets were good
for anything from booking a flight to having a haircut (because it's so
hot here). The best and prettiest place to eat and drink (with beer bottles
in coolers) was La Casona, with a shaded street terrace overlooking the
plaza. Although the kitchen was a bit slow (to the fast South American
standards), the food was good.

We found the taxi driver who had
brought us from the airport to the city careful and keen enough to ask
him to take us out the next morning and later in the afternoon again. The
morning drive was to the nearby Laguna Suarez and then slowly on for some
4 km more. Trinidad is already a bit more Amazonian than the lowlands around
Santa Cruz so we had several new trip ticks. This is a partly wooded savanna
area with many pools.

On this trip to the laguna and beyond
we had both cardinals (Yellow-billed and Red-crested), Rufous Cachalote,
Rufescent Tiger-Heron, Toco Toucan, Blue-and-yellow Macaw, Buff-necked
Ibis, Great Antshrike and the like. The same morning we also did another
road, the one going South to something like Sachojera, and on this 8 km
or so drive we added Jabiru a/o. We were back in town at the end of the
morning and only went on for another drive late in the afternoon because
of the heat these days (was better the next day).

We drove the 5 km or so from the
airport to the river, where the village Loma Suarez is idyllically situated
in a more moist and more wooded area. On this slow drive we added species
like Blue-throated Piping-Guan, Spix Guan, White-bellied Seedeater, Undulated
Tinamou and Band-tailed Nighthawk. In the species list the birds of this
day are lumped with those of the next days further North to the macaws
under the code TR (Trinidad), as there is not a big difference in habitat
except that further north everything is even more spacious. But believe
me that the direct surroundings of Trinidad are good birding so there is
no need to do all the birding here on the expensive trip to the Blue-throated
Macaw.

Our 2-day trip straight North from
Trinidad to that 'barbazul' (Blue-throated Macaw) was a rather weird but
impressive one and with success. The car was a normal taxi with airco because
of the dust roads where you don't like to open your windows. A normal taxi
was possible on these roads in this season indeed, but the car had suspension
problems so in the end we had to walk a few kms on a small field road (picking
up our only Buff-breasted Sandpipers of the trip) before reaching the place
where we would stay the night, a ranch at an exquisite location in a wide
river bend with several river dolphins. This was not the official place
where we had to stay the night but the car would not allow us to go on.
But this ranch was a necessary step in the itinerary as from here you can
reach a forest island with the barbazul.

We walked on (in far less heat than
the day before, luckily), first still with our guide but when we reached
another, smaller farm he arranged to have us guided for the last 2 kms
by one of the children so that he could help fixing the car, which had
electrical problems now as well. So there we walked with a 7-year old girl,
who had no problem finding the forest island as it stands out from far
in this open savanna. We first thought somehow that we had to wait on the
macaws as if this was a night roost only, but after 10 minutes we discovered
a pair of this absolute wish-list species Blue-throated Macaw, sitting
on a palm front at the edge of the forest island. They were feeding each
other palm nuts, and were preening each other.

We witnessed this from a safe distance
for another 10 minutes before they disappeared into the forest, and we
realized how lucky we had been to see them so well. At the farm we understood
that there were just two couples of this barbazul here (lots of Blue-and-yellow
screaming around though). On our last leg back to the lodge we were given
a horse ride, our first ever.

The next morning the driver had to
wait for help of a mechanic from the city who would arrive by motorbike
later on. So we took our time and wandered around the ranch, or in fact
mostly sat at that absolutely wonderful spot in the river bend, on a small
concrete plateau right in front of the lodge. The show of river dolphins,
macaws (Blue-and-yellow), cayman, wood-rails (Grey-necked), Sunbittern
and kingfishers amidst a choir of antbirds, spinetails, doves and others
was something that we will never forget. A Green Kingfisher was having
troubles a long time with a too big fish, and this was watched most of
the time by his bigger nephew Ringed Kingfisher…

With the car fixed in 2 minutes,
we had an easy drive back to Trinidad, although slowly (good!) in order
to spare the suspension. All in all we had a good trip, mainly thanks to
the skill of our guide who could improvise so well. He normally does long
trips with fishermen or even small expeditions. His name is Johnny Zambrano
Fernandez and he is well known in Trinidad, as just Johnny. He can be reached
at johnnyZ@latinmail.com but more regularly at his phone number (591) 46
20431 or cellular 01796573.

Apart from the barbazul we also ticked
Golden-collared Macaw on this trip. This was at a small but clear woodland
plot with a farm well before the hamlet-with-restaurants San Pedro (which
is WP10). At that woodland we also had a piculet (I am still sorting out
this).

Another good spot was a small wet
pasture to the left just before the access road left to Estancia Betlehem,
with several storks, herons and ibises, and Orinoco Goose. At another spot
(WP03) where we had breakfast the first day, we ticked two monjita species
(White-rumped and White), and had a group of four Toco Toucans displaying
well. This was in an open savanna with scattered palms.

At WP09 the road crosses a small
river, this may be worthwhile to check a bit longer. We saw a river dolphin
and Anhinga. The more North you get along this road the opener the scenery
becomes and here we had Greater Rhea which were camouflaged by the slightly
similar termite hills that are all around.

Riberalta (RI)

From Trinidad to the North of Bolivia
the scenery gradually changes into Amazonian rain forest, and this whole
transition from mainly savanna with gallery forests to mainly rainforest
can be excellently seen during the flight from Trinidad to Riberalta. The
small rubber-boom town of Riberalta has a laid-back atmosphere, not the
least because there are very few cars, and normal traffic is done by motorbike.
So after installing ourselves in the aptly named hotel Colonial (not expensive,
but to be paid in cash like everything here except your flight, and there
were no ATM cash withdrawals) we walked the 50 m to the plaza where we
were assigned in no time to two motorbike taxi drivers by somebody from
the hotel. He arranged a rate of 10 pesos per hour each, and the two friendly
guys (William and Dennis) remained our drivers for the coming days (mornings
and some late afternoons).

At the same corner of the plaza is
the best restaurant, Tom's, with a shaded terrace overlooking the plaza.
The road around the ample plaza was one big softly buzzing motorbike parade
in the evenings, and the sport for us was to find out the maximum number
of passengers on one motorbike (5!), and how many rounds somebody would
make. I kept my eye on a lone girl on a rented motorbike but she came not
further than 8 rounds or so before catching up with friends and taking
a side road. From another guest who worked here we heard that the maximum
she had ever counted for one motorbike was 62 rounds. This is a funny and
quiet town and we saw no other tourists here.

Hamburgo is the name of a cluster
of clay ovens at the border of the town, near the river, and it is here
that Sjoerd Mayer discovered the Masked Antpitta as a new species split
from Spotted Antpitta. This is in the low moist forest to the right of
the road towards the river, and we clearly heard it singing here (some
2 or 3 together; we had brought one of Sjoerd's recordings) but we never
saw them. But we are seldom lucky with antpittas. Sjoerd wrote me later
that he mostly saw antpittas by chance and not when they were singing.
Black-spotted Bare-eye was one of the birds we did see here, and a funny
sight was the gathering of a hundred or so Fork-tailed Flycatchers at a
roost in the reeds behind the forest.

Antofagasta is a hamlet deep into
the forested zone to the left of the road from Riberalta to Guayamerin.
Here, but even more near the hamlet Siete Julio to the right of the sand
road to Antofagasta, we had great moments of Amazonian birding, with Green-and-Rufous
Kingfisher, Paradise Jacamar, White-necked Puffbird, Scaly-breasted Woodpecker,
Bare-necked Fruitcrow, Screaming Piha and many others. Although the forest
was nowhere really unbroken for more than a mile or so there were many
good spots. See the map for the location of this 7 Julio.

Before passing by this hamlet you
cross a small river and in the low bushes along the river (to the right
after crossing the bridge) we had Sulphur-bellied Tyrant-Manakin, and an
Ihering's antwren. This species was not yet on the most recent list for
Bolivia but presumed by Ridgely and Tudor to occur here in this corner
of Bolivia, and we later learned that ours would be the second observation
for Bolivia, and the first for Beni. The first one for Bolivia was in Pando.

Lago Tumichucua is along the road
from Riberalta towards the Andes, and we were strongly advised by several
people in Riberalta to visit that scenic site as well. The lake is attractive
indeed, and the more so the forested island in it. We hired a dugout canoe
for the four of us (the drivers and we) and made a slow tour along that
island and walked a bit onto the island. The birding seemed slow but in
fact we added a few species to the list, like White-eyed Attila (singing
incessantly on the island), Horned Screamer (so we had both screamers now)
and Osprey. On the way back to Riberalta we visited some open woods just
before the large checkpoint at the outermost border of the town, and we
got a nice lowland-tanager flock.

La Paz (CT, YU)

We had to stay in La Paz three times
and although it is an impressive city, at 3600 m and the even bigger twin-town
El Alto at 4000 m, we did not really like it. Just too crammed and messy,
and an appalling contrast between rich and poor on every street. I also
suffered a bit from the altitude. We first had the recommended hotel Rosario
and this is in the very lively Illampu street with many Indians, but the
other nights we had hotel Libertador in Potosi street (actually the continuation
of it called Obispo Cardenas). This one we preferred – it is less touristy
and more comfortable, and it felt very safe also. The room was 52 USD,
their fax is 318924, phones 313434, 310059, 317192). The restaurant of
Libertador is recommended but we found it rather dull and expensive, but
good enough when you are tired of the trip or the city).

Another recommended restaurant was
the authentic Casa del Corregidor at Murillo Street but here we found the
service bad, and it was too cold there. In contrast, a logistical highlight
was Imbex rent-a-car at Av. Montes, where we got a good car, a Suzuki Gran
Vitara again, but with good tyres now. We had not made a reservation but
it was all arranged smoothly on the spot. We used it for a 3-day trip across
the high pass called Cumbre and then down into the Yungas, the subtropical
to temperate moist forest zone on the East Andes slope. Imbex' e-mail address
at La Paz is rentacar@caoba.entelnet.bo or (what I used) info@imbex.com
, fax (591) 2 379884, phone 316895. They do have one other office, at Sucre,
but not in Sta. Cruz, but they said they cooperate sometimes with one car
rental company in Sta. Cruz. One-way rental is very expensive here, so
maybe this cooperation is an opportunity and you could explicitly ask for
it.

To find your way out of La Paz to
the Cumbre, which is the direction of Choroni, we used the city map provided
by Imbex, and the location of Imbex made it easy as well. They are on the
main road through the center (Av. Montes) but just so (at the corner of
Av. Pucurani) that you can avoid driving through the center when heading
for the Cumbre. The weather at the pass (Cumbre) can be miserable but we
had sunny weather after a light snowfall on the previous day. We tried
birding on several places along this main road further down at the other
side of the pass but the altitude made us go slow. The best place was above
the gas station of Cotapata, at about 3240 m, at WP20.

Here in the low elfin forest we had
many good tanagers and the like (see list). You find this by driving or
walking up left of the gas station, then keeping left at a fork, and at
the next fork, where you cannot drive on any further, the birding was good
to the left (short dead-end trail) and to the right. This one is a long
trail going over a saddle and gradually getting into denser temperate forest.
We only had 30 minutes birding along this trail but the vegetation looks
very promising. That second fork still is only 150 m or so from the gas
station. The main road is asphalted now till nearly Cotapata and we did
not go further than Cotapata because we had to take the side road to Chulumani
(right after Unduavi).

At Unduavi is a military checkpoint
that is much more serious that the ones we had had anywhere before in Bolivia
(where you always could drive on after slowing down a bit). We were followed
by a police car and forced to stop, and we were seriously reprimanded for
driving on. So please just do stop at the open barrier and take your time
to find out in which of the small barracks you have to go to show your
papers.

The drive down to Chulumani is wonderful.
This into the Sud Yungas (YU). Steep slopes with good forests, at least
there where people cannot yet easily get into them. This dirt road is not
busy (a bit more so at weekends) and we could easily stop on many places
to do some roadside birding in the half-open forest habitat, e.g. at WP19
(at 3200 m) and WP18 (at 1800 m). The road starts at about 3000 m in upper
temperate forest and we ended the day at the hotel Tamampaya just before
the hamlet called Puente Villa, at about 1300 m in subtropical forest.

This hotel (phone 79 6099; postbox
3-12356, at La Paz I suppose) is really worthwhile although I did not yet
hear about it from other birders. But they do receive birding tour groups,
the manager told us. It is located at the other side of the river than
where the road goes (you cross the river on a one-way bridge), and the
main building with the open air restaurant and the chalet-type rooms are
situated in a beautiful green setting with many different trees and good
views up hill. We did not bird so much here as it deserved, but got two
typical foothill species on their grounds: Slaty Gnateater and Plain Antvireo.

At the backside of Puente Villa village
(which is still an hour or so before Chulumani) a track goes up through
a narrow lush stream valley. After about 500 m the track along the stream
merges into a trail, and then after some time steep rock faces hang above
the trail. This is a site for Andean Cock-of-the-Rock as we had been told
at the hotel. At the spot a local farmer walking by reconfirmed this. They
would be mostly just before the narrow wooden bridge leading to a trail
on the other side of the stream (see photo in the other part of this report).

We spent about four morning hours
in the upper reaches of the Apa Apa forest reserve, about which we had
only read in the Footprint Bolivia Handbook, but at the hotel they pointed
this out as the best birding spot in the surroundings. We had a shortcut
through Huancane village to the upper backside of this reserve but normally
you enter via a longer road from Chulumani, and then you will have wardens
at the lower part of the reserve to guide you, I think. For the upper reaches
of this reserve some rare species like Scimitar-winged Piha and Chestnut-crested
Cotinga are mentioned.

The shortcut to the upper part is
mentioned in the Bolivia Handbook: 'from Huancane follow the high trail
to the right which leads around the hillside to the upper parts of the
Apa Apa forest'. The 'trail' is actually a difficult but practicable 4WD
track. We did not have those rare species but had a whole series of Yungas
Manakin, amongst others, and we were really impressed by the quality of
this yungas forest, in a sort of transitional zone between the subtropical
and the temperate zone.From Huancane to Chulumani it is
some 10 minutes and here you finally have a place with gasoline, telephone
(at the plaza), fruit stalls etc.

Another attractive excursion from
La Paz is Lake Titicaca of course. We had one spare afternoon when coming
back from our side trip to Chile, and went to the lake with the same taxi
driver as we had from the airport to the hotel. Our main target was the
Titicaca Flightless Grebe of course, also prosaically called Short-winged
Grebe. We found this at WP25 at 'Snack Mirador Chua', a bit after the village
Shankajawira, and when driving slowly back again also at WP26 at another
establishment likewise called Mirador. For the rest this trip was our only
acquaintance with the tough life on the cold but fairly populated Bolivian
altiplano, and as such as impressive as the lake with its incredible far
horizon.

Part 3 - GPS-waypoints

List of waypoints measured by GPS
on a trip to Bolivia, N Chile and Buenos Aires province Argentina in Sept/October
2000.

See the reports at home.worldonline.nl/~jvanderw
for info about the waypoints. Generally they were taken at good birding
sites.

This list of bird species observed
on the 5-week trip includes the species for the side trips to North
Chile and Buenos Aires province (Argentina). These two areas are indicated
with EC (extra Chile) and EA (extra Argentina) in the two columns to the
right. See the separate reports for more details about these two areas.